In Galesburg, few signs of a U.S. recovery taking hold

City has struggled to rebound from a gutting of its manufacturing base

July 25, 2013|By Alejandra Cancino, Chicago Tribune reporter

The hurdle is that not all young people have the economic capacity or educational background to get a college degree, Hendon said. Others added that the only route their children can take to reach the middle class means leaving Galesburg.

"A lot of kids move out because there is nothing here for them," said Jenny Baughman, who has two daughters ages 12 and 14. Both plan to leave the city after college.

The city lost more than 1,500 residents from 2000 to 2011, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

For those left behind without a college degree, the future in Galesburg looks grim.

Afiya Tucker, a 21-year-old single mother, said she lasted two weeks at a fast-food restaurant before being laid off. It took her years, she said, to find that job, and now she's back knocking on doors asking for an opportunity.

The $8.25-per-hour job she lost was her best shot at a future, she said, and now she's depressed.

"I'm tired of being broke all the time," Tucker said. Moreover, she said, her relationship with her mother, her household's only breadwinner, is strained. "I don't know what to do," Tucker said.

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, said those without a college degree are having difficulty finding employment because they are being displaced by recent college graduates who haven't been able to find jobs in their fields. Last year, he said, there were more young workers with a bachelor's degree working in the food service industry than those in science careers such as biology and physics.

"Economic mobility has broken down in America,'' Sum said.

In June, the U.S. unemployment rate for teens was 24 percent, double what the figure was in 2000.

Sum said that it will be harder for today's teens to become part of tomorrow's middle-class workers because they are not learning the soft skills needed to move up the pay scale. He said good-paying jobs need to be created and apprenticeship programs need to be rebuilt.

"I don't see, politically, any leadership to do these kinds of things," Sum said.